Stunning turn toward charging for disabled parking

Updated 7:44 am, Saturday, June 21, 2014

It is not your imagination. There are a ridiculous number of blue disabled-person placards in San Francisco.

There are city blocks where every parking space is taken up by cars with blue cards. They park there all day, every day, as long as they want, free of charge. And c'mon, a lot of these people are clearly hale, hearty and using Grandma's placard to game the system.

Want to guess how many placards have been issued in a city with just 28,000 metered parking spaces? 1,000? 2,000? Let's go crazy and guess 5,000.

Not even close.

A survey by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency found that as of November 2013, 60,750 placards had been issued in the city. Throw in the surrounding eight counties in the Bay Area, and you add an additional 453,830. It is simple math, says longtime disabled advocate Bob Planthold.

"There are far more placards in the Bay Area than there are parking places," he said. "If everybody came to the city at once, the city would be shut down."

It has reached the point where even disabled advocates are recommending the unthinkable - taking away the free pass and ordering those with disabled placards, even the severely handicapped, to pay to park.

Before you object, hear them out. SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin is convinced that something radical must be done. Applications for placards are steadily increasing.

"It all comes down to the fact that free unlimited parking in a city like San Francisco is of such great value it appears to invite misuse," he said.

Something needs to be done, right? Let's crack down. We'll check all the cars and drivers and cite them if they are misusing the placard.

Good luck with that.

In an SFMTA report last year, Lea Militello, SFMTA director of security and enforcement detailed a single day of enforcement.

Combative drivers

"In just one day, I personally witnessed several incidents where (officers) were subject to hostility and verbal abuse," she said. "As soon as one driver saw us he ripped down the placard, and slammed on the gas, forcing us to jump out of the way."

In short, placard abusers are hard to spot and often combative. Besides, the SFMTA could not find a city where enforcement reduced the abuse.

OK, what about cracking down on those quack doctors?

Good idea. Unfortunately, that doesn't work either.

In California there's a laundry list of medical professionals who can issue placards - optometrists, podiatrists, chiropractors, physicians and midwives. There are too many to keep track of, and besides, determining legitimate disability is a gray area at best.

So after a six-month study last year, Reiskin and disability advocates reached a shocking conclusion - people with placards should pay for parking. Honestly, they were as surprised as anyone that that was their recommendation.

"Some of us were adamant in the beginning that we needed to do rigorous enforcement," Planthold said. "I've changed my mind. Even Carla Johnson, the current head of the mayor's office on disability, came in thinking enforcement. All of us, advocates and disabled, changed our minds."

The thinking is simple. Removing free parking means there is no reason to fake a disability.

But seriously? Take parking away from the disabled? Who would do something like that?

Most states charge

Actually, almost everyone. California is now one of just 15 states that do not charge disabled drivers for parking. And those other 35 states saw immediate results. When Philadelphia went to paid parking, those parking with placards dropped from 65 percent of available spaces to 2 percent and on-street parking availability went up 11 percent.

Besides, Reiskin said, it isn't as draconian as you might think.

"In the '70s, when these programs were developed, it was never the notion that people with disabilities are poor," he said. "It was that the meters were not accessible. You had to get from the space to the sidewalk, and you remember in some cases you had to put a coin in and turn a handle."

"Now you can pay with a smartphone or a credit card," Planthold said. "There are lots of ways to be accessible."

So what happened when the six-month study group recommended charging for parking? The howls of protest could be heard all the way to Sacramento.

"We've unfortunately had opposition voiced by people who have not read the study," said Planthold, who walks with crutches and braces.

However, the SFMTA and members of last year's task force haven't given up. Advocates want to persuade lawmakers that the glut of blue placards is hurting the disabled. And Reiskin and the SFMTA are ready to stand up and testify that paid parking works. If you agree, they'd love to have your support at a hearing.

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